


one slip and it all goes to shit

by penthepoet



Category: Persona 4
Genre: POV Adachi Tohru, Short One Shot, Slice of Life, adachi swearing, he's salty, there is a brief Trinity Soul reference, this whole fic is him being salty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29964513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penthepoet/pseuds/penthepoet
Summary: Tohru Adachi recounts the mistake that got him transferred to Inaba.Written for "The Fool or The Clown? An Adachi Fanzine".
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	one slip and it all goes to shit

… Really, do you think I’d tell you that easily?

What do you mean, it’s obligatory? Ugh. Fine. Then sit down, shut your mouth and let me tell you how it happened.

It was a hot summer in Tokyo. I was sitting out in the station, dressed to the nines. An important police commissioner was coming around, and we had to be at our best. Masumura kept gesturing at us, spitting this whole line about how we had to be good little boys for the important fellow coming our way. See, he was already kind of stuck-up already, but when it came to the higher-ups? Shit, he was frothing at the mouth to kiss ass, shine shoes, whatever it took to make himself look better.

Though, you’ve gotta understand, I think we all had that mindset at the office back then. Especially yours truly. I mean, I literally went out and got a whole “spa appointment” because one of my coworkers just wouldn’t  _ shut up  _ about doing it before important meetings. He said it “bolstered his confidence” and “fortified him.” Yeah, right. Load of shit, if you ask me, even though it was nice to get rubbed down by one of those cute girls working the salon. I’m getting off-topic, aren’t I? 

Anyway, the important police commissioner is coming down to the station, we all have to look our  _ best  _ for Masamura’s new idol, and the whole station is abuzz. Just who got picked to do what for the big old commissioner felt like I was dropped in the goddamn Diet. It’s - I don’t want to say there was  _ infighting  _ specifically about who got what, but I can say with confidence that there were some nasty things said behind backs.

I, of course, was assigned to coffee duty -  _ carrying _ the coffee to the Commissioner.

You can see where this is going.

This Commissioner General guy comes in. Full uniform - fancy, full on dressed to the nines. Think his name was Kanzato? … Yeah, yeah, that was it. Ryo Kanzato. Had those sharp looking glasses that cost more than my annual salary. We were all lined up in this pretty little row as Masamura, my boss, suddenly turns into the police officer equivalent of a squealing high school girl looking at her crush. Kanzato says not a  _ single  _ word during this. He’s nodding, giving us all the one-two-glance over, and I keep my face calm.

Are we all as excited as Masamura is? Absolutely not. I think most of us just wanted to go back to our cubicle. But we’re trying our best, y’know, to keep it stern for the ole’ Commish General here. Nobody wants to be the guy that  _ fucks it all up  _ and gets Tokyo police funding cut.

Once that show and flash is done, Masamura leads the Commissioner General to the room, and he gives me the discreet signal - yes, he had  _ hand signals  _ he reviewed with us on this, he wanted everything about the higher-up’s visit to be spotless.

So he gives me the signal. I make the order as Masamura instructed me. No room for error, not like with Dojima-san. This has to be flawless. I swear, that was the best damn cup of coffee I ever made. I’ll bet money on that.

I begin to walk it over, and the nerves start hitting me. Normally I can keep a pretty straight face, but when a guy gets nerves, a guy gets nerves, alright? It didn’t help that the AC was cranked up higher than Christ, and it was about the temperature of “below freezing.” I’m already shivering when I get into the office. I’m already hit in the face with the nerves. 

And then the worst thing happens.

I still have nightmares - let’s call them nightmares - about this exact moment.

I lie on my stupid little cot, eyes wide open, thinking about what exactly caused it. I stopped a little too sudden, maybe. I was shaking too hard. The carpet bunched up and I tripped.

The fact remains that this is what caused Masamura to take me out back and put a bullet in my career’s head: the tray slips off of my hand - the  _ coffee mug slides off of the tray  _ \- and the coffee, already heated up the most I could manage, splashes all over the good Commissioner General.

… Second degree burns. I gave that man  _ second degree burns.  _ From  _ coffee. _

I had done the equivalent of splashing acid on the Prime Minister by accident, and there was no way that Masamura was going to fire me over a mistake like that.

And that’s what caused my transfer to Inaba.  If that tray had stayed upright, maybe those girls wouldn’t have had to die…  But it’s funny how fate works like that, huh?

One single slip of gravity, and it all goes to shit.

**Author's Note:**

> this is lowkey how I imagine Adachi got sent to Inaba in Jester tho
> 
> Please, please, PLEASE go check out the fanzine at @adachi_fanzine on Twitter. It's a really good publication with a bunch of talented artists and I highkey recommend it.
> 
> \-------
> 
> ANYWAY WEW OK. COLLEGE HAS BEEN A TIME. THERE'S A FEW FANFIC IDEAS I'VE HAD SWIRLING AROUND IN MY WHOLE DOME AND I'M ALSO GONNA SUBMIT THEM HERE FOR YOU ALL TO LOOK AT.
> 
> 1.) I will probably write a short crossover fic between Persona 5 and a setting I have very, very much loved that very few people know about. tl;dr Joker finds a blue-eyed alien prince has crash-landed outside of Leblanc and endeavors to take care of him, finding out more about the guy and why he's come to earth.
> 
> 2.) I've been <[DMing a tabletop campaign](https://twitter.com/i/events/1338019480530771969) set in the Jesterverse for the past several months and I love the homebrew, original setting and OCs that I've made for it so much that I think I genuinely want to write some fics introducing the setting and characters to you all. Shiroijuku and its quirky cast of characters, including the villainous Geogaddi Syndicate, is so fucking awesome and I love it so much.
> 
> 3.) I am definitely gonna write some Shin Megami Tensei and Digital Devil Saga fanfics in the future. Aleph, Hijiri and the Demifiend make me so fucking happy that I don't know what to do with myself.  
> \-------


End file.
